Fruit slicer with stationary knives and reciprocating plunger



July 4, 1950 v. MARASCO FRUIT SLICER WITH STATIONARY KNIVES AND RECIPROCATING PLUNGER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 26. 1946 mmvrox. Mm

F7770 NEV July 4, 1950 v. MARASCO 2,513,341

FRUIT SLICER WITH STATIONARY KNIVES AND RECIPRQCATING PLUNGER Filed Aug. 26. 1946 Z SheetS-Sheet 2 Id 1-30 23 IN V EN TOR.

HTTOQNEV Patented July 4, 1950 l UNITED s '1:"A.rE s oFFlc-E FRUIT S LICER WITH STATIONARY KNIVES AND RE CIPROCATING'PLUNGER Vincent Marasco, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application August 26, 1946',- SBIiaINO; 693,066

. 1 The. present invention relates toslicing. machines of the type. adapted to slicefruit, and particularly to machines for slicing lemons and similar fruits. Huge numbers. of lemons are. used every day inhotels and restaurants as garnishment andas seasoning for seafoods. and. drinks, especially tea, and the like. Often the lemonsare cut transversely and-served as-rings; but it is generally preferable from the viewpoint of the customer, who isthe user, to cut the lemon. in longitudinal sections. The latter. type-of. cutting is relatively expensive, becausev of the timerequired when the segments are each.cut.by hand, and therefore not favored by the. proprietors- .An inexpensive slicing machinecanprovide the best type of cut. at less expense to owners. of eating establishments, thus satisfyingthe. needs of. all concerned Hence it is-a: general object? of my invention to provide asimple and inexpensive. slicer for. lemons adapted to. slice them. lengthwise.

Also anobject of my inventionis to provide for ease of operation of such a. slicer by progressive entry of the knives into the. skin. and the. seed zone, whichare the. zones. of. hardestv cutting.

A further object is. to provide a. slicer that is simple in construction andeasy to. assemble and disassemble for: cleaning,. sterilization, and replacement. of the knives.

These and. other objects are attained by providing a slicer comprising an upright frame member. on which is mounted. a plurality of radial blades extending. outwardly from a common axis of intersection, The blades are preferably equiangularly spaced with their cuttingedges facing upward. In the. preferred embodiment of. my invention described.v herein, the blades are made in pairs in the form of diametral knives which intersect at. their mid-point at the common verticalaxisz. I prefer to provide three. such knives; I

but a. differentv number may be-used is desired.

The. knives; are arranged. to commence slicing the lemon at. successive positions as it travels along: said. common axis past the knives. For this purpose the knives are arranged with the inner ends of their cutting edges, and also the major portion. of their edges, at different heights. Ina preferred form of my invention, these outting edges all start from substantially the same radius and. height and slope downwardly and inwardly to;- the central point of intersection, but the. average slope of each pair of edges isdifferent, and increases progressively in order that the? edges start cutting in succession at short intervals.

The edges. of all blades may be straight; but in a'preferred form thehighest pair is concave slightly so that for a short distance. in from .the ends of the knives, four blades. are atabout the same height. This construction provides four .5 Claims. (of. 146-169) points: of initial contact. witlr the lemonand holds it steady while it is being pushed onto the knives.

A follower is provided with. 2.: prong for. each space betweentwo blades. By manually operating this follower theoperator can push one lemon past the knives- A spring is preferably provided to return the follower toraised position;

I- show and describe a preferred form of my invention designed to'slice lemons; but itwillbe understood I am not limited thereto, sinceother .fruit can be sliced withoutchang'ing the essential features of the invention.

How' the above objects and advantages of my invention, as well as others not mentioned, are attained will. be more. readily understood from reference to the following specification and the annexed drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of. a' slicer con- .structed according. to my invention, with a porknife in elevation and the profiles of the other .other modification in the form of. the knives.

Referring now to Figs; 1 and 2 it will be seen that the frame, designated generally at ill, comprises. hollow upright I2 attached at its lower end to base M which preferably has several feet l5; Base It is made arcuate in shape in order that a dish,,not shown, to receive the lemon slices can be placed directly under the slicing knives and rest upon the surface It supporting base M rather than on the base itself.

Near the top, upright I2 has on one face two integral brackets I! provided with T-shaped slots open at their top sides. These two slots each slidably receive a T-shaped lug l8 on cylindrical housing 20 which supports and encloses the assembly of slicing knives 2 I, 22 and 23. The housing and knife assembly are held in place by gravity and slicing pressure; but may be easily re- .moved from upright I2 by lifting the housing to raise lugs [8 out of engagement with brackets ll. The middle knife 22 is shown in elevation in Fig. 4. It, like knives 2| and 23 is shaped with vertical, parallel sides spaced slightly less than the internal diameter of housing 28. At the upper end of each side is a projecting lug 25. Lugs 25 of the knife blades fit into slots2! in the top edge of housing 20 to hold the knives in position. The width of lugs 25 is preferably no greater than the thickness of the housing wall.

Each of the knives 2|, 22 and 23 is provided with a pair of cutting edges Zia, 22a, and 23a, respectively. As shown in Fig. 4, edges 22a are arranged in a V-shape; and the other knives are similarly formed. But as shown in Fig. 5, the average slope of each of the pairs of edges 21a, 22a, and 23a, i. e. the cutting edges on each knife, is difierent and is progressively greater or steeper on the various blades in the sequence 2|, 22 and 23. Likewise, in the same sequence, the blades are longer. to cross one another at the center of the blades, which lies on the vertical axis of housing 20. The cutting edges thus slope downwardly and inwardly to the axis of intersection at the center of the knife assembly and housing 20." The tops of the knives when in cutting position in housing 20 (seeFigs. l and 2), are all at substantially the same level, the top of housing 20.

Thus the downward slope of each cutting edge starts from substantially this same level.

To assemble the knives, bottom blade 23 is first dropped into housing 20 and its lugs 25 positioned in two diametrically opposite slots 21. Next intermediate blade 22 is dropped'into housing 2! and positioned by two other slots 21. Blade 22 has a notch 30 at the center of its bottom edge in a position to fit over the lowest point of the V between cutting edges 23a. This interlock of the two knives hold their lower ends in position. Finally, the top knife 2| is dropped into place, and positioned by the remaining two slots 21. The top knife has a notch 3|, similar to notch 30, which receives knife 22 at their intersection and so interlocks the top and middle knives at their intersection. All three knives now occupy different diametral positions relative to each other and to the axis of housing 28, and are held firmly in position by engagement with each other and with the housing walls. Each half of a knife with its separate cutting edge forms, ineifect, a radial blade intersecting the others on the axis of housing 20. When assembling is finished, annular cap 35 is placedon housing 2!] over lugs 25 to'keep the knife blades in slots 21. Since cutting pressure tends to seat the knives in housing 20, no additional locking means is required; and the knives can be quickly and easily removed from housing 20 'for cleaning or replacement by reversing the knives in order to slice it. For this purpose, a

manually operated follower is slidably mounted on upright 12 of the frame. This follower comprises a post 37 which slides vertically within hollow upright l2. The two members are preferably square, or some shape other than round, to prevent relative rotation. At the top of-post 31 is a cross-head 38 from which'a plurality of prongs 40 depend. One prong is provided for each space between two cuttingedges, i. e., one

for each slice of lemon, six in this instance, as shown in Fig. 3. v Y

A knob 4| is provided ontop of cross-head This permits the blades down the cross-head and prongs 46 for the purpose of forcing a lemon, shown in dot-dash lines at L in Fig. 1 past the assembly of cutting knives.

The follower means is normally held in the elevated position illustrated in Fig. 2 by spring 43, or some similar means, as in this position the lemon canbe readily inserted through the opening in cap 35 and placed on the cutting knives. Spring 43 compresses when the operator pushes down on knob 4|, and post 31 telescopes within upright l2. Cross-head 38 can move downwardly to the dot-dash position of Fig. 2, its length of travel and the length of prongs 4d being such that the lemon slices are forced clear of the knives. When knob ll is released, spring 43 restores the follower to its elevated position.

The profiles ofthe several cutting edges are illustrated comparatively in Fig. 5, as the drawing shows the knives superimposed one on another. From Fig. 5 it will be seen that thetwo lower pairs of cutting edges 22a and 23a are substantially straight. For these blades, this shape is preferred since a straight cutting edge slices a lemon effectively and is the simplest shapeof edge to grind. ,The third or top pair of cutting edges 21a, is slightly concave. The reason for this slight curvature of one pair will now be explained.

Asnoted above, all of the cutting edges slope downwardly. from points which are substantially at the same level and the same radius outwardly from the axis of the blade assembly. These points are at the .top of the blades and beyond the normal radius of a lemon being sliced, as may be seen in Fig. 5. 'If all blades had straight edges, when a lemon is first placed on the knives it would engage only the top two cutting edges since, because of its rounded shape, it initially engages the. cutting edges. at a'p'cint below and inward of their top ends. However, by providing a slightly concave curvature "to the top blades, cutting edges 21a and cutting edges 22c are tangent near their upper. ends at or near the point of initial contact of the lemon with these blades. As a result, the lemon initially engages four blades, rather than two, as illustrated in Fig. 5 and is held firmly by this initial engagement against twisting and rocking on the blades during the initial travel of the lemon past the cutting edges. This point or zone of tangency 'of the two pairs of cutting edges, is located as closely as possible at the averagepoint of initial engagement of the lemon with the knives;

Obviously, this point of tangency can vary somewhat in exact location but itshould be located within the range of approximately .6 to .9 of

the mean radius-of the lemon being sliced.

The reason for'providingthe variation of. average slope will now be explained. The greatest resistance to cutting, as-alemon is moved longitudinally past the knives, is encountered in 'two different zones. The first zoneiisthe. relatively thick rind of the lemon at its lower end. The second zone is at the center of the lemon'where the seeds are located. In order to distribute the cutting load relatively evenly over. the entire travel of prongs 40, it is desirable that the cutting edges successively enter the zone of relatively high cutting resistance. Progressive entryinto these zones distributes the work of cutting more'evenly over the entire travel of the lemon, with the result that the-force required to push a'lemo'n past the knives is reduced 'and ismore uniform than if all blades en'tered the zones of high cut- Qt. The perator can'g'ra p, knob Al to push; ting resistance at the same'time. Y

This improved slicing action can be secured by a construction that places the cutting edges at different heights or at successive positions along the path of travel of the lemon. However, for simplicity of construction, I prefer to have the peripheral ends of the cutting edges at, or substantially at, the same elevation. Hence, in a preferred construction the blades slope downwardly and inwardly to their intersection from points at the same level; but the average slope of each diametrically opposed pair of blades, 1. e., each knife, differs so that the cutting edges intersect the common axis at different heights. The major portion of the active cutting length of each pair of blades is thus at a different height than that of the other pairs and are engaged in succession by the lemon as it is moved past the knives.

For the above reasons, the difference in average slopes between the several pairs of cutting edges should bear some predetermined relation to the thickness of the thickness of the lemon rind. With the profiles illustrated in Fig. 5, the cutting edges are vertically separated at their midpoints by approximately the average thickness of the lemon rind. This spacing is preferred, but obviously it can varied.

Fig. 6 illustrates a variational shape of the profiles of the cutting edges. In Fig. 6 blades 2!, 22 and 23 are provided with upwardly disposed cutting edges '2lb, 22b, and 23b, respectively. As before, two pairs of cutting edges are straight; but in this instance it is the top and bottom pairs. One pair of cutting edges is again slightly curved; but in this form the intermediate cutting edges 22b are slightly convex. Otherwise the construction is the same as previously described.

With the profiles illustrated in Fig. 6, it will be seen that the top two pairs of cutting edges Zlb and 22b provide a point or zone of tangency within the range previously specified, and consequently a lemon laid upon these cutting edges also initially engages the knives at four points with the same advantageous results as mentioned above. 7

Fig. '7 illustrates another modification in the profiles of the knives 2 I, 22 and '23. In this form, cutting edges Zlc and 220 have the same profile as edges 21b and 22b in Fig. 6; but it is equally possible to use the outlines of edges Zla and 22a. in Fig. 5. The two lowest cutting edges 230 have been modified by lowering the topmost point of each cutting edge so that it starts at a lower point than do edges 2Ic and 22c. Thus the average slope of edges 230 may be substantially the same as the average slope of edges 220. This construction requires that the internal diameter of housing 20 and the overall width of the three knives be somewhat increased in order that the net cutting length of blades 230 be the same as before. It will be noted that the modification shown in Fig. '7 is otherwise constructed the same as previously described, and that the cutting edges of the three knives intersect the vertical common axis of the blade assembly at successive points along the axis in the direction of travel of the lemon being sliced.

Having described a preferred embodiment and certain variations of my invention, it will be understood that various changes and construction and design thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention;

and consequently, I wish it to be understood that v the foregoing description is to be construed as illustrative of, rather than restrictive upon, the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a citrus fruit slicer, the combination comprising: a frame; a plurality in excess of two of angularly spaced diametral knives mounted on the frame and intersecting it at a common axis, each of said knives having a pair of upwardly disposed cutting edges and all cutting edges sloping downwardly and inwardly from substantially the same level with a different average slope for each pair of edges to intersect the common axis at successive points along the axis, the uppermost pair of cutting edges being slightly concave and the next lower pair of cutting edges being substantially straight.

2. In a citrus fruit slicer, the combination comprising: a frame; a plurality in excess of two of angularly spaced diametral knives mounted on the frame and intersecting it at a common axis, each of said knives having a pair of upwardly disposed cutting edges and all cutting edges sloping downwardly and inwardly from substantially the same level with a different average slope for each pair of edges to intersect the common axis at successive points along the axis, the uppermost pair of cutting edges being substantially straight and the next lower pair of cutting edges being slightly convex.

3. In a citrus fruit slicer, the combination comprising: a frame; a vertically extending knife housing carried on the frame and having top and bottom openings; and a plurality in excess of two of substantially vertical substantially fiat knives mounted in the housing, extending thereacross in angularly spaced relation, and intersecting a common substantially vertical line passing through the housing, each of said knives having a continuous upwardly exposed cutting edge, said cutting edges intersecting said line at spaced points therealong with the portions of said cutting edges on opposite sides of said line extending upwardly and outwardly towards said housing to form a plurality of generally V-shaped cutting edges having different average slopes, the

uppermost two of said knives having opposed cutting edge portions shaped to establish four points of initial contact with the fruit.

4. A citrus fruit slicer as in claim 3 having three knives, the uppermost knife having opposed cutting edge portions that are slightly concave cooperating with the opposed cutting edge portions of the knife next below to establish four points of initial contacts with the fruit.

5. A citrus fruit slicer as in claim 3 having three knives, the next to the uppermost knife having opposed cutting edge portions that are slightly convex cooperating with the opposed cutting edge portions of the uppermost knife to establish four points of initial contact for the fruit.

VINCENT MARASCO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 508,424 Kennard Nov. 14, 1893 542,104 Prade July 2, 1895 1,399,950 Fish Dec. 13, 1921 1,681,681 Pigg Aug. '21, 1928 1,910,380 Daum May 23, 1933 2,247,810 Healy July 1, 1941 

